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Father, we pray that you would help us to set our hearts and our minds upon You for the next hour or so of our evening here, that we would learn from You. Jesus, You told Your apostles to go into all the world and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe the things that You commanded. Lord, we trust that You're with us in that whole endeavor.

What we're doing here tonight is a part of that commission, as we're seeking to grow in our knowledge of You and grow in our obedience to You, so that we would be able to follow You faithfully. I pray for each of us, God, that we would grow in our understanding of You and Your Word, and that our understanding of those things would stir us to be able to follow You and bring glory to Your name. We dedicate this time to You tonight, and we ask, God, that You would teach us by Your Spirit in Jesus' name. And all those agreed said, "Amen."

All right, so class number four, the key to a perfect world. Just as we did last week and the week before, we're beginning with a portion of Scripture from the Gospels. You remember all the way back at week one, at the very end of week one, we talked about where the best place for us to receive the revelation of God is, and the Scriptures point to Jesus being the perfect revelation of God.

So we start with the story or the testimony about Jesus found in the Gospels. Tonight, we're going to be in Mark's Gospel, chapter seven, and the text is on the first two pages of your booklet, which contains a larger section of Scripture that we're looking at tonight.

In Mark's Gospel, chapter seven, verses one through 23, we read that the Pharisees and some of the teachers of the law who had come from Jerusalem gathered around Jesus and saw some of His disciples eating food with hands that were unclean, that is, unwashed. The Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they give their hands a ceremonial washing, holding to the tradition of the elders. When they come from the marketplace, they do not eat unless they wash, and they observe many other traditions, such as the washing of cups, pitchers, and kettles.

So the Pharisees and the teachers of the law asked Jesus, "Why don't Your disciples live according to the tradition of the elders instead of eating their food with unclean hands?"

He replied, "Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you hypocrites. As it is written, 'These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. They worship me in vain. Their teachings are but rules taught by men.' You have let go of the commands of God and are holding on to the traditions of men.

And he said to them, "You have a fine way of setting aside the commands of God in order to observe your own traditions. Moses said, 'Honor your father and your mother,' and anyone who curses his father or mother must be put to death. But you say that if a man says to his father or mother, 'Whatever help you might have otherwise received from me is corban,' that is, a gift devoted to God, then you no longer let him do anything for his father or his mother. Thus, you nullify the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down. And you do many other things like that."

Again, Jesus called the crowd to him and said, "Listen to me, everyone, and understand this. Nothing outside a man can make him unclean by going into him. Rather, it is what comes out of a man that makes him unclean." He went on, "What comes out of a man is what makes him unclean. For from within, out of a man's heart, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance, and folly. All these evils come from inside a man."

After he left the crowd, he entered into a house. His disciples asked him about this parable. "Are you so dull?" he asked. "Don't you see that nothing that enters a man from outside can make him unclean? For it doesn't go into his heart, but into his stomach, and then out of his body." In saying this, Jesus declared all foods clean.

He went on, "What comes out of a man is what makes him unclean. For from within, out of a man's heart, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance, and folly. All of these evils come from inside and make a man unclean."

As we've been doing over the last several weeks, we want to begin by doing what's called an inductive Bible study of this section of Scripture, just asking the who, what, when, where sort of questions and making observations from this text of Scripture.

So that we can start to understand the truths that are found in the Bible, we can see what it is that the Lord wants to speak to us. We have this story of Jesus around the Sea of Galilee, where most of His life and ministry was spent. He was with His disciples, moving from town to town around this lake in the northern part of Israel.

We are told in that passage of Scripture that a group of Pharisees and teachers of the law came from Jerusalem because there was quite a stir going on about Jesus during this period of time. They came to see and hear from Him. When they arrived, they saw something that bothered them. These religious leaders, the Pharisees, were one of the most strict religious groups within Judaism at that time. They were watching very closely the way that people observed the Scriptures and the traditions.

As they watched Jesus' disciples eating, they noticed that they were not eating in a special way, and this upset them. What caused the stir and controversy with the religious leaders? Jesus' disciples were eating without ceremonial washing. It is important to recognize that this was a special kind of washing. This does not mean that they ate their lunch or dinner without washing their hands and cleaning up. It was not some sort of unhygienic behavior, but rather that they did not wash according to the religious standards of the Jews during that time.

The Pharisees were the ones who were upset about this. They were convinced that their righteousness, their right standing with God, came from their observance of the law found in the first five books of the Bible, as well as their observance of the traditions that had been handed down century after century in Judaism. So, as they watched Jesus' disciples eating without the ceremonial religious rites of purification, these Pharisees were bothered by it.

They decided to address the issue. Who did they ask for an explanation? They recognized that these were followers, disciples of Jesus.

They go to Jesus, as the disciples' leader, to ask a question about purification. At this point in Jesus' ministry, if you read through the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, you find that the religious leaders already had it out for Jesus. They were looking for opportunities to trip him up. They didn't like that all the people were beginning to follow this teacher from Galilee instead of seeking their counsel regarding the law in Jerusalem.

According to the religious leaders, what did the disciples do wrong? As we read through the text, we see that it wasn't necessarily that they had broken the law of Moses, but rather that they broke the traditions of the elders by not washing their hands in a ceremonial way. There was a tradition that had been handed down for many centuries, a kind of Jewish rabbinical teaching, that required a specific method of washing. They had precise measurements for how much water was to be used and how it was to be poured over the hands. It was very particular how they would go through this ceremonial washing.

The religious leaders were upset because the followers of Rabbi Jesus were not adhering to this tradition before partaking of their food. As the story unfolds, we see Jesus' response to these religious leaders. He first speaks directly to the Pharisees and then turns to the crowd.

Later on, his disciples come to him and begin to speak with him. This is a typical occurrence in Jesus' ministry. He would often say things to the multitudes and speak in stories or metaphors. People would hear these stories, which might seem to be about farming or shepherding, and later, his disciples would approach him, saying they perceived a deeper meaning behind the stories.

In this instance, Jesus begins by conversing with the Pharisees, the religious leaders, and then he has a teaching for the crowd. Eventually, his disciples come to him for further explanation.

Number six, according to Jesus, how did the religious traditions affect their obedience to God? While following the traditions of man, they ignored the commands of God. They sought to observe these traditions that had been handed down, yet those traditions sometimes conflicted with God's revealed law. They were doing things that were traditionally right, but those traditions led them away from following God.

He actually gives a specific example in the story. As he explains to them that their traditions transgress God's law, he talks about something called Corbin. By declaring one's possessions devoted to the temple, an individual was no longer obliged to support their parents. Apparently, during Jesus' day, there was a religious tradition that said if you had a large sum of money or an estate and wanted to shelter that estate so that no one could take anything away from it, you could declare that it had been dedicated to the temple under this rule called Corbin. This meant it was almost like it was sheltered; it was set aside and sanctified, and no one was allowed to touch it.

This was a way for people to hold onto their possessions. They had the authority and power to later declare that it was no longer dedicated to the temple. For instance, if you had aging parents and didn't want to take care of them for some reason, you could shelter your assets for a while. Then, when your parents died, you could simply say it was no longer dedicated to the temple, thus releasing the money from its purgatory.

In doing this, Jesus said that their traditions transgressed the commandments of God. The specific example he mentioned had to do with the command to honor parents. If you remember from a couple of weeks ago, we talked about the Ten Commandments, and one of those commandments is to honor your father and your mother. It is the fifth commandment. In fact, Paul says in the New Testament that it is the first commandment with a promise. There is a promise associated with this commandment: honor your father and mother, that it may go well with you, and you will have a long life.

In Jesus' day, there were people who were going against the commandment of God to honor their parents, which involved taking care of them in their older age. Jesus pointed out that these individuals were nullifying the commandment by claiming that all the resources they had were dedicated to the temple. They would say, "I'm sorry, I can't help you with what you have need of because that money has been dedicated to the temple." In doing so, they were violating God's command.

As Jesus spoke with the religious leaders and the crowd present, he quoted from a prophet in the Old Testament. The prophet he referenced was Isaiah, who lived about 700 years before Jesus came to the earth. During Isaiah's time, the nation of Israel was in a steep decline. They had turned away from God and were about to experience His judgment because they had broken His covenant. God sent Isaiah to speak to the people and call them back to repentance, openly addressing their sin.

Interestingly, both in Jesus' day and in Isaiah's time, even though these people had turned away from following God, they felt secure because they were still observing the traditions of their fathers. They had left God, worshiped idols, and engaged in all kinds of immoral behaviors, yet they believed they were okay because they continued to observe the temple rites and the feasts. They thought that as long as they performed their religious duties, they must be fine.

This situation is similar to what we discussed several weeks ago: if you keep the entire law, you are considered righteous, but if you only adhere to a few standards, you might be seen as merely religious. The problem with religion is that it can lead people to feel justified simply because they have completed their religious obligations. They might say, "I went to mass, I went to church, I went to confession, and therefore I am okay," allowing them to continue engaging in behaviors that are against God.

This was exactly what the people were doing in Isaiah's day, and it continued in Jesus' time. The religious leaders, whom the nation looked up to as holy and righteous, were the same individuals who ultimately plotted to kill Jesus. There was a significant inconsistency here: they were very religious, and everyone admired them for their religious rites, yet their actions betrayed their true intentions.

Keeping all these things in mind, behind closed doors, they were plotting to put Jesus to death and wondering how they could trap Him. There is a real problem here. They lulled themselves to sleep with their religion, which is a danger any of us could fall into.

Moving on to number nine, what new insight did Jesus give to the crowd as He spoke with them? It is an interesting teaching that He provides here. The religious leaders were very concerned that Jesus' disciples had not washed in a ceremonial way to be religiously purified before they ate. They believed that if one was not religiously purified while going about life, they would accumulate sinful gunk, if you will. If that impurity was not washed off in the proper way, then when one ate, it would go into them and make them impure. That was their reasoning and mindset. They thought that as one navigates through life, they bump up against bad things, and if they eat, that stuff would get inside and make them wicked on the inside.

However, Jesus taught that it is not what goes into a person that makes them unclean, but what comes out of an individual that reveals their uncleanness. Yes, there are many wicked things in this world; I think all of us would agree. As we look around, we see evil. But Jesus said that as we go through the world, we are not going to get the evil, sick, twisted, immoral things on us, and then have them go inside and make us immoral. The problem is already inside of us. What comes out of an individual reveals their true nature and uncleanness.

When Jesus' disciples heard this, they were a little confused. It didn't make sense to them. Later on, they approached Jesus after He was away from the crowd, wanting to understand what He meant by this teaching, as it just didn't resonate with them. The disciples found this confusing because physical uncleanness and illness are real; there are germs in this world that can make you sick. Anyone ever experienced food poisoning? It is not an enjoyable thing. We all recognize that there are things in the world that can make us ill if we ingest them. Physical uncleanness or illness occurs when bad things enter the body, but we become clean or well when those things leave.

And this was the opposite of what Jesus said. His disciples were saying, "Well, yeah, but we understand that there are things that can make you sick or make you not well. They can make you unclean if you ingest them." However, that's not what Jesus was talking about. He wasn't discussing how we can pick up germs in this world and make ourselves sick. The insight that Jesus gave to his disciples was that all food is clean morally. Partaking of certain foods is not going to make you morally impure or spiritually unrighteous.

Now, remember, in Jesus' day, there was a teaching among the religious leaders that you could become morally and spiritually unclean by partaking of foods that were not kosher. How many of you have heard the term "kosher" before? You can even go and shop for kosher foods today. Kosher refers to following the dietary laws of the Jews that are given to us in the Old Testament.

In many ways, and I think probably most of the ways, when you look at the dietary laws given to the Jews in the Old Testament, they had very real practical reasons behind them. They did not have the sanitation that we have today. They did not have the refrigeration that we have today. They did not have the preservatives that we have today. Therefore, there were certain foods that were prohibited. For example, one of the things that was against the Old Testament law was partaking of shellfish.

How many of you like shellfish? That would be a real bummer if you had to keep that law, because you might think, "Man, I like to eat shrimp from time to time, and lobster is pretty good." But we all recognize that those things can spoil very quickly, and they can make you very sick if you eat them when they are spoiled.

So, if you go back 4,000 years ago, 3,400 years ago, when the law was given, they did not have preservative agents like we do today. They did not have refrigeration; they didn't have big refrigerator trucks that transported food. There was a very practical reason behind these laws.

If you fast forward and follow those laws for 700, 900, or 1,000 years, you reach a point where people start to look at those dietary rules and laws as things that will make them right before God. Instead of God saying, "I'm forbidding this because I don't want you to get sick and die," they viewed it as, "We have to keep these laws because that makes us righteous with God."

But what Jesus is pointing to here is that food has no impact on your moral condition or your spiritual condition. In fact, eating an In-N-Out burger might be like an actual close-to-God experience.

But there's no real moral issue with eating these specific foods. According to Jesus, what makes a man unclean? It is what comes out of his heart: evil thoughts and evil desires. He says in that passage of Scripture that out of the heart come evil thoughts and evil desires, as noted in verses 20 through 23. This provides a quick overview of that passage of Scripture.

Now we move to the study questions. How were the Pharisees wrong about four things that we will begin looking at here? First, the authority of traditions in Scripture. The Pharisees had a certain view about authority, questioning what was more authoritative: tradition or the Bible, Scripture? Next, we consider the concept of purity. Jesus addresses their understanding of what makes one righteous before God. Is it following these traditions, or is it adhering to God's Scripture?

Additionally, we will examine the way of worship of God and the concept of moral goodness. As we go through this, we will see the contrast between Jesus, whom we have established as an authority—God in the flesh, here for us to understand God's nature, character, and will—and the views of the religious leaders of Jesus' day.

Remember, the people of Jesus' day looked up to and honored the religious leaders. They regarded them as the ones who were to direct their lives spiritually.

The first part focuses on the literary authority of traditions and Scripture. According to the Pharisees, which was to be obeyed always? They were bothered when they observed Jesus' disciples because the disciples were transgressing the traditions of the elders. For the Pharisees, these traditions were primary and mandatory for all. There was no way around this; they wanted everyone to follow not just the law, but also the traditions.

As we will see as we go through this passage, the Pharisees seemed to elevate tradition above Scripture. According to their traditions, they were transgressing God's law. This is evident in the way they lived and taught through their lives.

How they viewed Scripture in comparison to tradition is significant. When following traditions, did they allow Scripture, God's commandment, to be broken? Yes. Their tradition of Corban broke God's commandment to honor parents. They had a way to get around God's law, like a loophole, and they justified it. This is what we always do; we make our sinful skirting of God's law look acceptable by making it seem righteous. This is what they were doing. They were circumventing God's law through this rule, this tradition called Corban.

Based on their actions, which was held in higher regard as authoritative? Obviously, their tradition was held above Scripture. By the way they lived and taught, they elevated the idea of Corban, and there were dozens of other ways in which they did this. This is just one example that Jesus identifies, where they placed their traditions above Scripture and set aside God's commandment.

So, that was the Pharisees. But according to Jesus, which is more important: obedience to tradition or Scripture? Obedience to Scripture. How did Jesus regard religious traditions? As you look at the way Jesus interacted with them, religious traditions that conflicted with Scripture were not to be followed. If it didn't line up with Scripture, it was not to be followed.

Now, that does not mean that every tradition is bad. Some traditions align perfectly with Scripture, or there may be no Scripture that addresses them. There are all kinds of cultural traditions that we observe daily, and the Bible is completely silent about them. Are those traditions okay? Sure, as long as they don't conflict with God's Word. This can even apply to some of the holidays we celebrate. You might say, "I don't see any rule in the Bible saying that we should do this," and consider stopping these cultural traditions. However, if there's nothing explicitly against it, it's okay. But if there is something in the Bible that says, "Thou shalt not," then we must take that into account.

We should honor Scripture above tradition. Religious traditions that conflict with Scripture are not to be followed. Based on Jesus' teaching, what did He regard more highly? Obviously, He regarded Scripture above tradition.

There was not only a difference between Jesus' view and the Pharisees' view on the authority of traditions versus Scripture, but also a difference in their views on the concept of purity. What is it that makes you and me morally right before God? Spiritually right before God?

The next question is: what kind of purity was emphasized more by the Pharisees? They wanted to follow a ceremonial purity, a traditional and ceremonial purity. They believed that the washing of hands, in a specific and special way, was related to moral purity. They figured that if they washed their hands in this manner, it would be the thing that makes them righteous.

In contrast, what kind of purity did Jesus emphasize? He emphasized a moral and spiritual purity. There is a significant difference between the two perspectives.

They were keeping traditions and following the ceremonies that the fathers had prescribed. They looked back to the fathers of their faith and religion, believing that if they maintained these practices, it would make them right before God. They thought that by abstaining from certain foods or by washing in a special way, they could remain righteous before a holy God. However, Jesus had a totally different view of things.

It is not just external actions that God is concerned about. If it were only about sacrifices and offerings, then that is what we would do; we would constantly offer sacrifices and offerings. But that is not the whole point of the law or the traditions of the fathers. Ultimately, we need to address a bigger problem than just our external actions. The fact is, a person can try to reform their behavior and still possess a wicked mind and heart. Therefore, mere religious observance does not make people righteous before God.

Did Jesus think that physical purity had moral value? Did He believe that by keeping these religious rites and rituals, by washing in a special way, that it had spiritual or moral significance? No. While physical purity is good, it has no moral value; it does not make you righteous. This does not mean that you should not do the right things or observe cultural practices. It simply means that if you think these actions will make you right before God, you have a problem.

These religious people, as I mentioned earlier, believed they were righteous before God. At the same time they were going to the temple, offering sacrifices, and washing in ceremonial ways, they were plotting to kill Jesus and trying to entrap Him. They were even paying bribes to trap Jesus. This clearly shows a disconnect between their religion and true righteousness.

Not only was there a difference in the idea of purity and in what constitutes authoritative scripture and tradition, but there was also a difference in the way of worshiping God. The religious leaders had a different view of worship compared to Jesus, who is God incarnate.

What does it mean to worship from the heart? Jesus addresses this in this section of Scripture and in other passages, focusing on the issues of the heart rather than just physical actions. According to Jesus' criticism, what was missing in the worship of the Pharisees? They were not worshiping from the heart.

Worshiping from the heart means worshiping with sincere love for God. It involves listening and being honest in our expressions of faith. According to Jesus, God should be worshiped from the heart and also with our lips. The lips serve as an expression of what is in the heart.

I may not know what is in your heart, but if I were able to spend enough time with you and listen to the things you say, I could learn quite a bit about you. Our words reveal who we are at a deep, internal level. The Word of God is the perfect revelation of who God is, just as your words are the perfect revelation of who you are.

The Pharisees and Jesus had different views of worship, purity, tradition, and Scripture. They also had differing perspectives on the concept of moral goodness. Based on their views about tradition and the way of practicing moral laws, we can see these contrasts more clearly.

What things have moral value according to the Pharisees? They believed that keeping tradition and practicing God's law externally were the key issues. Jesus addresses this in a significant way in His teaching called the Sermon on the Mount, found in Matthew 5. While Matthew 5, 6, and 7 encompass the entire passage, specifically in Matthew 5, He states, "You have heard that it has been said of those of old time, 'You shall not kill.'" Everyone was familiar with the sixth commandment of the law: "You shall not murder." Jesus acknowledges this teaching but then adds, "But I say to you, that if anyone hates his brother without cause, he has murdered him in his heart."

Here, Jesus is not only addressing external actions but also the condition of the heart. He continues, "You have heard that it has been said, 'You shall not commit adultery.' But I say to you, whoever looks upon a woman to lust after her has committed adultery with her in his heart." This illustrates that Jesus is concerned not just with outward behavior but also with internal motives and issues.

So, how did Jesus differ in His view of moral goodness? He saw no moral value in the practices of the Pharisees. In fact, on several occasions, particularly in Matthew chapter 23, He directly calls them hypocrites because they excelled at reforming their outward appearance while their hearts remained wicked. He described them as "whitewashed tombs," looking great on the outside, all painted white and perfect, but on the inside, they were full of dead men's bones. This was His assessment of the religious leaders of the day.

They appeared to have it all together externally, and they loved to boast about it. Again, in His Sermon on the Mount, Jesus mentions how the Pharisees would go out and blow the horn to draw attention to their charitable acts. They would have someone announce, "Look at Pharisee Bill over there; he's giving to the poor!" They thrived on the praise of men for their good deeds. Additionally, they enjoyed standing in public places to pray loudly so that everyone would see them and think, "Oh, how pious and righteous they are! Look at their amazing prayers!" Yet, despite their outward displays, they were still full of dead men's bones.

In summary, Jesus had a fundamentally different view of moral goodness compared to the Pharisees, focusing on the heart rather than mere external compliance.

One of the social problems is not supporting or honoring one's parents, but also evil actions. At the end of this section of Scripture, He gives a list of a number of evil actions. I think we would all acknowledge that these are things that are against God and also against mankind on so many levels. He talks about sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance, and folly. These are the entertainment themes you find on ABC, NBC, and CBS every single night from 8 o'clock until 11 o'clock. These are all kinds of evil actions that are causing social problems around us at any given time.

According to Jesus, what are the root causes of these problems? Where do these things come from? In one way, the dishonoring of parents comes from following wrong traditions, and the evil actions come from an evil heart. In this passage, Jesus talks about the uncleanness that the Pharisees were so concerned about, fearing they might catch some sort of uncleanness from the wrong kind of food or from bumping up against a sinful person while going around town. In fact, the most religious Pharisees of the day would be upset if a certain kind of lower-class sinful person were to cross their shadow. They believed that if that person crossed their shadow, it could make them unclean. Suddenly, they would be unclean before God, ceremonially unclean, and they would have to go through special processes to make themselves clean once again. They engaged in all kinds of these crazy practices.

However, Jesus is talking about a different kind of uncleanness. What uncleanness was Jesus referring to? He was talking about evil actions. What's another simple word for evil actions that we apply to such things?

Sin. In the passage of Scripture, Jesus not only talked about evil actions, but he also addressed evil thoughts in verse 21. He stated that from within, out of men's hearts, come evil thoughts, and from those evil thoughts proceed evil actions. So, a simple question arises: are evil thoughts sin? Yes, they can be, especially when the choice to sin is made in the heart.

At any given time, because of our fallen condition, we can have an evil thought of anger, malice, lust, hatred, or whatever else pass through our minds. These thoughts can pass very quickly, or we can choose to hold on to them. When we choose to hold on to them, it can move into the area of sin. There is often a very thin line between these things, so we must be careful about our thought life. By God's grace and power, He can enable us to do so.

But where do these thoughts come from? Jesus tells us in the passage of Scripture that they come from all the external things in this world. They do not arise from bumping up against some sinful person or eating meat sacrificed to an idol. No, they come from the heart. One of the Old Testament prophets, Jeremiah, who lived about 500 years before Jesus, said that the heart of man is desperately wicked. Jesus is identifying the same truth in this passage of Scripture: the heart of man is deceitful and wicked above all things.

So, what is the condition of the human heart? It is evil and sinful, and this is a result of the fall. This concept goes all the way back to the very first book of the Bible, Genesis chapter 3. God had given a commandment to humanity, and then we see the breaking of that commandment based on the temptation of the devil. Through one man, sin entered the world, and death through sin. Sin spread to every single human being, so that every one of us is born sinful because of the fall.

Thus, the human heart is evil. Of course, this perspective is not very politically correct in 21st-century Western society, and I'm sure you've probably already noticed that. To say that humanity is born sinful is often met with resistance.

We like to think that we're born good. In fact, you'll hear people say all the time that we're born inherently good, and it's the problems of society that make us do bad things or think bad things. But according to Jesus, things are completely different. The world is not as we would like to make ourselves feel better by saying that we're all born really good. It’s not just that someone mean did something bad to me when I was younger, and therefore, that's how I became a mean person or a ruthless person.

Now, there are things that can be done to us—sinful things—that can cause us to be more aggressive in our sin. But the fact is, sin begins in our evil heart, as we saw in a previous lesson. We had simple diagrams a couple of weeks ago, one of which illustrated a self-centered individual. We are changing it a little bit now because we're talking about the sinful heart.

The self-centered sinful heart puts "I" at the middle. I am at the center of this self-centered existence. Because I am at the center of this self-centered existence, I rebel against God and compete with other people. This isn't something that's learned. How many of you have children? You witness this amazing phenomenon as you watch your children develop. You never have to teach your children to be greedy. You don't have to teach them to lie. It's remarkable; they are actually really good at deception from an incredibly young age. Before they can even talk, they are adept at deception and greed.

I don't know about you, but some of my kids' first words were things like "MINE!" As far as I know, I didn't teach them that. It just kind of surfaced pretty quickly. They remind me of the seagulls in Finding Nemo.

So how does this self-centeredness lead to evil, sinful actions? The sinful heart, which we already possess, produces evil thoughts and evil desires. When acted upon, these lead to sinful actions.

We already have a sinful heart. It resides in every single one of us from birth. We are all burdened with this sinful nature, which constantly produces thoughts and desires that, when acted upon, lead to sinful actions. If that's the case, what then is the problem with sinful acts? What's the root of it? Where do sinful actions come from? They come from a sinful, fallen heart. Every wicked, evil deed that we see in this world originates from a sinful, fallen heart within humanity.

Now, we are living in a time when there are people who even deny the existence of evil. They do not want to believe that there is such a thing as evil. However, it is hard to look at some of the atrocities happening around the world at any given moment and say there is no such thing as evil. The issue is, where then does that evil come from? We did not pick it up off some fungus that grew on a rock somewhere; it is in every single one of us. The depths of the depravity of that evil are phenomenal. It is hard for us to even imagine sometimes how wicked humanity can be to other individuals or to other things in this world.

Where did that come from? In one of the Old Testament scriptures, it says, "Every imagination of man's heart was only evil continually." This was one of the reasons we read about in Genesis chapter 6, where there was a global flood upon all of humanity to bring judgment. Where did that flood come from and why? God brought judgment upon the earth because of that very simple thing: every imagination of man's heart was only evil continually. When we look around the world, it seems to me that this verse is being proven over and over again every single day. Every imagination of his heart is only evil continually.

How does our sinful condition affect our eternal destiny, even after being forgiven? Remember, we talked about forgiveness in both of our previous classes. There was the man who was paralyzed, lowered down to Jesus, and Jesus said, "Son, your sins are forgiven."

And then this sinful woman came to Jesus and washed His feet. She anointed them with oil, and He said, "Her sins are forgiven." There are people who wonder about this whole thing: Does He have the authority and power to forgive sin? He proves His authority and power to forgive sin when He healed a man who was paralyzed. He has the ability to pardon people's sins and to deal with the penalty of their sins.

But even if we are forgiven, will we still sin? Yes, we still sin. Our sinful nature, our sinful heart, remains. When you put your trust in Jesus and He forgives you of your sin, that doesn't immediately make you sinless and perfect. I've yet to meet a sinless, perfect Christian. I'm looking for that person. If you think you might be that person, let's talk. We'll see. We'll do a test on whether or not you're sinless and perfect. But we're not, because the sinful nature is still there. That sinful heart resides in us.

So, can God allow us entrance into heaven if we have this sinful heart still inside of us and we continue to sin, even after we've been forgiven by God's grace and He has dealt with the penalty of sin? No. Since heaven is a perfect place, no sin is allowed there. There is no sin in God's presence. He is completely holy and separate from sin.

We have a dilemma. We are confronted with a pretty serious issue here. Nothing imperfect, nothing sinful, can come into God's presence. God dwells in this wonderful place that we all want to go to. So, how perfect should one be to live in heaven?

Well, in Matthew chapter 5, this is in that passage of Scripture called the Sermon on the Mount. This is right after Jesus says that to look upon a woman with lust is to commit adultery with her, and to be angry and hate someone in your heart is to commit murder. Then He says to those who were listening to Him, and to us as well, "Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect." Completely, 100% morally righteous.

Be perfect. One must be 100% perfect. Well, I tried. I think I'm doing okay. Maybe you think you're doing okay. So, what if you're 80% good? Is 80% goodness good enough? Nope, sorry. Twenty percent bad is not acceptable. You're almost there. I know most of you are slightly, just ever so slightly, imperfect. But even if you're 99.9%, there's that 0.1% imperfect. The one who is going to come before God has to be completely holy. He says, "Be ye perfect, even as your Father in heaven is perfect."

In evaluating our moral goodness, what does God compare us with? When He looks at our moral condition, what does He set it next to? Well, in 1 Peter chapter 1, verse 16, He says, "For it is written, Be holy, because I am holy." God compares us with His holy nature, Christ's nature. He sets us up next to the perfect holy standard, which is His righteousness, His holiness, His goodness. We have to stand up next to that and compare ourselves to His righteousness.

Now, of course, that's not generally how a lot of people view righteousness or goodness. One of the most common false or popular views about evaluating our moral goodness is that we compare ourselves to others. Every single one of us has done this at some point or another. We think, "I'm not as bad as so-and-so," or "I'm a little bit better than that person." I may not have reached quite the righteousness of the Pope, but I'm pretty good in this area.

So, that's one way we compare ourselves: to others. Another way is that we weigh our good deeds against our bad deeds. We might say, "I've done more good things in my life than bad things."

Thus, if we have more good deeds, then we will be accepted. How many of you have come across in your own life or the lives of others these kinds of moral standards that people use in our society? Some might say, "I'm not as bad as Hitler." Well, that's really good to know, right? Others might think, "I may not be quite as good as Billy Graham, but I'm not as bad as so-and-so." Many people compare themselves to others or claim, "I'm a pretty good person. I've done a lot of good things in my life. I've never done any bad things." They might argue, "I've done more good things than bad things, so I think I'm doing okay."

In fact, for years, we would set up a booth at the street fair in Escondido on Grand Avenue, which took place twice a year, in May and October. Anyone ever gone to a street fair before? We would conduct a good person test, offering $20 to anyone who could pass it. Let me tell you, we got a lot of people interested because they wanted to know if we were really going to pay them. I would say, "If you pass the good person test, then I'll pay you."

We would go through the whole process. I would ask, "If you died tonight and stood before God, what would you say to Him if He was going to let you in?" Most people would respond, "Well, I've been a pretty good person." They would insist, "I think I'm a pretty good person. I'm not as bad as so-and-so. I've done a lot of good work."

I would then challenge that notion. "Have you ever told a lie? Any lie, even a small little itty-bitty white lie?" They would often admit, "Well, yeah, I guess so." I would respond, "What's that make you? A liar."

Next, I would ask, "Have you ever stolen anything, irrespective of its value? Have you taken something that was not yours?" Many times, people would say, "No, I've never done that." I would remind them, "Well, you just told me you're a liar. Can I trust you?" They would concede, "Yeah, I guess I've taken something that's not mine." I would then say, "Okay, what's that make you? A thief."

Then we would get to a more serious question. "Have you ever looked at a woman with lust in your heart?" They might respond, "No, yeah, I guess I've done that." I would explain, "Well, the Bible says you've committed adultery in your heart." I would continue, "Have you ever taken God's name in vain, using His name as a word to express disgust?" They would often admit, "Yeah, I do that all the time."

I would conclude, "According to your own admission, you've broken four of God's Ten Commandments, and we're just getting started. So, if you were to stand before God on Judgment Day and He used that as the standard to judge you, would you be guilty or innocent?" They would have to say, "Well, I guess I'd be guilty." I would then say, "I'm sorry, I can't give you 20 bucks."

But there's a bigger issue than not getting $20. It has eternal consequences. Most people follow one of these two things, or both, in determining or judging our righteousness: Am I a good person? In our society today, many live according to a moralistic mindset, believing that they are pretty good people. They think that if there is a God, He will judge them based on their goodness. They really try to be good people.

However, there's a significant issue here. Eighty percent goodness, or even ninety-nine percent goodness, is not good enough. So, what are some of the problems with these two methods? Simply put, we can always find others who are worse than ourselves. That's not very hard to do, especially in the world in which we live. We won't know until the day of judgment if we've been good enough according to the good scale. Did my good works outweigh my bad works? There are real issues here. Just look around the world; it is not hard to find someone more wicked than you, even if you consider yourself a pretty good person.

There are different views of judgment. The wrong idea of judgment is that my good deeds will outweigh my bad deeds. People imagine big scales in heaven, where they do a whole bunch of good deeds while acknowledging that they have done some bad things. They think, "I'm not perfect, but my good deeds on that day of judgment will weigh more than my bad deeds, and I will be okay." Interestingly enough, this is fundamentally how most religions in the world operate. Islam follows the scales of rightness or goodness. Many cults, such as Mormonism and Jehovah's Witnesses, also adhere to the belief that they have done more good deeds than bad deeds.

But this is the wrong idea of judgment; it is a flawed view. True judgment is different. True judgment weighs the balance between Christ and us. Let me give you a little spoiler alert: you are never going to be as righteous as Jesus. He is the perfect standard, and when we set our lives next to His, we always fall short.

True judgment is the nature of God, the nature of Christ. "Be holy as I am holy," He says. "You must be perfect like your Father in heaven is perfect." According to this true judgment, do we have to wait until the day of judgment to know our moral goodness is not enough to live in heaven? No. Compared to Christ, our goodness is never good enough. This is the bad news that every single one of us needs to hear. We don't like bad news, but we must understand that there is some pretty significant bad news against us. Compared to Jesus, you and I will never be good enough.

In the eyes of God, what is man's basic need based on the root problems that we've seen? Man's most basic need is a 100% clean heart. Every one of us needs a 100% clean heart. However, we've also seen that the problem of our fallen heart is that it constantly produces evil thoughts and evil desires. From those evil thoughts and evil desires come evil actions, and those actions cause a lot of social problems in the world.

We look around the world, and there are all kinds of problems. People want to try and fix these through political means or by moralizing and addressing people's moral problems. But can the problems of society be solved without addressing these basic problems of the heart? No. Social reforms are only external; they do not change the heart. As a result, evil continues.

If you follow history, especially over the last 500 years, it is very interesting to observe the movement known as modernity, which spans from the Renaissance period through the Industrial Revolution. This great scientific awakening, moving into the Industrial Revolution, occurred from the 15th to the 19th centuries. When we entered the 20th century, if you read the writings of people who were looking forward to it at the end of the 19th century, they were expecting and anticipating a wonderful utopia in the 20th century.

We have achieved so much with science. We were on the precipice of accomplishing all kinds of great things with technology. We had done away with many major issues in the 18th and 19th centuries in the western part of the world. Then, as we entered the 20th century, not even two decades in, we experienced a devastating event that completely shook the minds of modern man: the First World War. In the First World War, tens of millions of people died in modernity. Here we were, coming into this great utopia, and it didn't work.

We thought we had it all figured out, but then, in the late 1930s, we faced the Second World War, which resulted in over 100 million deaths. Looking at this, one might think, "I guess we don't have it quite so figured out." We believed we had fixed the issues, but we didn't. After that, we moved into a time of more scientific and technological advancement, yet we fell through the end of the 20th century, the most bloody century on record when it comes to war and all the horrible things that happened.

We realize that we still have this major problem that all of our social reforms cannot fix. All of our advancements in science and technology have not been able to address the issue of the evil heart. From the evil heart, we see evil actions continuing in the world, and we are confronted with it every moment of every single day.

Not long ago, if something bad happened in the world, it would take days or weeks to hear about it, or you might never even know because it was on the other side of the world. Now, when something bad happens, we are notified in seconds about events in Japan or the Middle East. We can instantly see and watch all of this unfold. How many of you watched live on TV on September 11, 2001, as planes crashed into the buildings in New York? If that happened today, you'd have 10,000 HD video cameras streaming it live, and probably even more than that.

The problems of society have not been fixed. So, why else is it important to have a clean heart? A clean heart is needed; it is required to enter heaven. Heaven is a perfect place. When I talk about heaven, I am referring to the dwelling place of God.

Wherever God is, there has to be total perfection. If we don't have a clean heart, we cannot come into His presence. Can we, by our own efforts, our religious rites and rituals, and purification, make our hearts 100% clean? No, we can't. We try. Most of us came out of some religious background, trying to deal with the problems in our lives. But if our heart is sinful, can our good actions be good in God's sight? With a sinful heart, our good actions do not come from the heart; they are only external. Therefore, they are not good enough. They can never be good enough.

So, is man capable of doing morally good deeds? There are a lot of people doing good things in the world. I watched a documentary the other day about Warren Buffett. How many of you have heard the name Warren Buffett before? He is the second richest man in the world, with a net worth right now of over $60 billion. He started with next to nothing in the 1950s as an investment banker, and now he has over $60 billion.

Several years ago, in 2006, he stood before a packed crowd of people and said that he would give 100% of his wealth away in charitable giving. He has already committed $24 billion to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. By his own testimony, he is an agnostic; he doesn't know if there is a God or if there is not a God. He seems like a pretty good, nice guy. Here is this man with $60 billion who still lives in the 3,000 square foot house he bought in 1958. He drives himself to work every single day and goes to get his breakfast every morning, going through the drive-thru at McDonald's. He seems like a nice guy and doesn't fit the typical investment banker type. He does a lot of good things, but will that make us right before God?

Well, in Isaiah 64, the prophet Isaiah says, "All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts, all our good works, are like filthy rags. We all shriveled up like a leaf, and like the wind, our sins sweep us away." Even our good works before a perfect and holy God are never good enough.

So, is man capable of doing morally good deeds? No, not from the heart, because our wicked, sinful heart taints all of that. What then is our sad future? We are not able to enter heaven without a 100% clean heart.

We need a little bit of good news now. I'm sorry; I'm about to leave you with a week of pondering. If you look at the page there, you'll notice that there are some free words that you don't want to see right now. I'm trying to get you to come back next week.

Why is forgiveness alone not good enough to solve our sin problem? Forgiveness deals only with the penalty or punishment of sins—that's hell. It does not change the sinful heart. But, of course, what is the good news that Jesus brought regarding this? God has the solution for the clean heart. However, you're going to have to wait until next week for us to get to that.

I think you're thinking ahead of time. There is an answer. Next week, we'll look at a passage of Scripture where one of the most respected figures in Jesus' day, considered THE teacher of the law, comes into play. If you wanted to learn about God, you would go to this guy. His name was Nicodemus. So, you can read ahead in John chapter 3. The Gospel of John chapter 3 is where we're going to be next week.

In class number 5, we will be discussing John chapter 3. I want to give you a chance to ask any questions. No, I won't give you any spoilers, but you're going to need to head to class next Wednesday night. Joey, what? Yes, class number 5. You can mark it down in your calendar. I thought I brought the calendar with me. Let's see here. Hold on one second. There it is, the master calendar.

Course number 2 is going to start on September 13th, which is a ways away, but you can jot it down. We will have some other activities coming up over the summer, but course number 2 will begin on Wednesday, September 13th, and it will run for five more weeks. Remember, class 5 is next week.

Now, do you have any questions? I can just pick one thing that seems judgmental. I look at people and think, "You're going to go to hell for that." But that's not for me to say. I was reading a book the other day about some of the most godly people who have written books, and I came across quite a bit about Jeffrey Dahmer. He went to prison and got saved while he was there. Still, as a godly man, you might want to point fingers at him and say, "You're going to hell."

There's a great passage of scripture that I want to share, even though it won't be in our class. It's from Luke 13. You'll want to look at this later. Luke 13, verse 1, says that there were present at that season some who told Jesus about a group of Galileans. Galilee was the Sea of Galilee, and this group of people from Galilee had their blood mingled with the sacrifices by the Roman governor Pilate. So, this group of men came to worship God in Jerusalem, and somehow or another...

They got into some scuffle with Roman guards in the area, and they were killed while going to worship God. Jesus answered them as they came to Him, asking about this incident. He said, "Do you suppose that these Galileans were worse sinners than all other Galileans because they suffered such things?"

You see, both today and at that time, sometimes when we see something bad happen to someone, we think that it happened to them because they are a bad person, so they are getting their just reward. These people watched this happen, heard about it, and thought, "Oh, those guys must have been really bad." They were coming to worship, and they got killed on their way to worship, so it must mean that God was really mad at them. Jesus then asked, "Do you think that they were worse sinners than everybody else?" He said, "I tell you no, but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish."

Then there was another incident that happened at that same time. A tower fell over and killed a whole bunch of people. Jesus referred to those 18 people on whom the Tower of Siloam fell, asking, "Do you think they were worse sinners than all other men who dwelt in Jerusalem?" He reiterated, "I tell you no, but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish."

What Daniel is pointing out is something that we all can struggle with: we love to point the finger at others and say, "Wow, those are wicked people." Jesus reminds us that unless we repent, we will likewise perish. We tend to deflect attention to other people because we don't want the spotlight shining on us. However, when that spotlight does shine on us—and there will come a time when we stand before God—there will be no one else we can point to.

We need to look at ourselves in the light of who God is. We can try to compare ourselves to other people, but even in the book of 1 Corinthians in the New Testament, it says that those who compare themselves by themselves are not wise. It is unwise to say, "Well, I'm better than that guy," or "I'm doing pretty good deeds."

It has been said, and I think it is true, that when we get to heaven, we will find there are a lot of people there whom we thought wouldn't be there because we do not have perfect judgment of situations. God is gracious. When you hear the stories about someone like Jeffrey Dalton becoming a Christian before he died, it serves as a reminder of that grace.

He was experiencing the consequences of his sinful actions. He was a serial killer, convicted and sentenced to life in prison. He was where he was supposed to be because of his murderous deeds, suffering the consequences of his own actions. But God was gracious and forgave him while he was there, which is an amazing thing.

Now, I'm assuming there are no serial killers in this room. However, every one of us, in our hearts, are serial killers because we've killed all kinds of people through our hatred. We are all convicted by the law.

Are there any other questions? Yes, very good class. Thank you for all the information. We are born sinners, as we discussed. So, what happens to all the children? In my upbringing, we had baptism for babies, where the godparents accept the faith on behalf of the child. Along with the parents, they tend to raise the child in the faith. There is an anointing and washing, which is very ceremonial.

I'm not sure how it works in this church, but I think baptism occurs when you come to find God. So, what happens with the kids? If we are born in sin and cannot consciously accept God until we are five or six, when we have the comprehension to do so, what about those who die young?

Daniel asked the exact same question before the class. He mentioned a neighbor whose son died of leukemia at four and a half. How do we deal with those situations? Not just with children who die of leukemia at a young age, but also with those who are mentally disabled and do not have the comprehension to understand these matters.

As we look through the Scriptures, there is a very interesting passage in the book of 2 Samuel. David is the king of Israel.

He commits an incredible sin. It's hard for us to comprehend, but during his life, while his army is out at war, battling on his behalf, he is at home having an affair—an adulterous affair—with one of his soldiers' wives. It turns out that she gets pregnant. Now, you've got the major political sex scandal of Israel 3,000 years ago. How does he deal with this whole issue?

He sends news to the front lines and says, "Hey, send Uriah, this captain in my military, back. I need to talk to him." So, he brings Uriah home and gets a report from him about what's happening on the front lines. Uriah tells him all the things that are going on. The king then says, "Well, I'm going to send you back to the front lines, but why don't you go home and spend some time with your wife?"

However, Uriah has far more integrity than David. He feels, "How could I possibly go home and experience the comforts of my home when all the rest of the guys are out doing battle?" So, he sleeps outside the king's palace that night. The king still has a problem; he has to deal with this situation. No one knows about it except for him and the woman, whose name is Bathsheba.

David can't get Uriah to go spend time with his wife to try and cover up his sin. Ultimately, he writes an execution order for Uriah, seals it, and tells Uriah to take it to the commander. Basically, the order says, "I want you to put Uriah at the front of the most intense part of the battle, and right when the battle is at its worst, pull back away from him so he gets killed." In this way, he has Uriah murdered.

Then, he covers it up for a year. The king, who the Bible says is a man after God's own heart, raises the question: how on earth can this man be considered a man after God's own heart? He is an adulterer, a murderer, a thief, and a liar. He has dishonored his parents and everything else. He dishonors God.

He hides it for a year, and no one knows about it. After Uriah dies, he takes Uriah's wife into his household to take care of her, allowing him to look like the hero. "Oh, the poor pregnant wife of Uriah."

She was a widow, and now a king was going to take her in and take care of her. Time passed, and he thought he got away with it. God told the prophet Nathan about this, and Nathan went to meet with the king. He said, "King, I have a story for you." Apparently, David liked stories.

Nathan continued, "There was a man in your kingdom who was very wealthy. He had everything. But when some friends came over to his house, he went next door to his neighbor's house. His neighbor had one lamb that was like a member of his family. This wealthy man stole that one lamb and killed it to feed his guests." The king got angry and said, "This man is to be put to death." Nathan then said, "You are the man," exposing David for his sin.

In Psalm 51 in the Old Testament, you can read about his repentance. This is why he was a man after God's own heart. He repented publicly and in a right way before God. However, this child was born, and the child became very sick. David fasted and prayed that God would heal the child. Unfortunately, 2 Samuel, I believe it's chapter 7, tells the story that the child didn't survive; the child died.

After the child died, the Scriptures say that David got up and cleaned himself up after his fasting and grieving. He stopped his fast, went, and ate. All of his servants were kind of blown away by this. They wondered, "What in the world is going on? This doesn't make any sense. While the child was still alive, he fasted. Now, after the child has died, he has cleaned himself up and is eating again. This doesn't seem to work."

David made an amazing proclamation of faith. He said, "That child can't return to me, but I shall go to that child." He provided us with some really interesting insight here. This is the concept of what we typically call the age of accountability. Children who die without the conscious ability to understand the truths of who God is and the truth of the Gospel are covered by God's grace and mercy. One of the things I am so appreciative of is that when God reveals Himself in Exodus chapter 34,

One of my favorite passages in the Bible is when God introduces Himself to Moses. He tells him, "I am the Lord, the Lord God." Then, He shares a little bit about His nature. The very first word that God uses to describe Himself is "merciful." I am so thankful that He says that. If God had said, "I am the Lord, the Lord God," without mentioning His mercy, every one of us would be dead. If He had started with His justice or His holiness, none of us would stand. I believe that God's default introduction is to start with mercy. He is merciful, forgiving, and gracious. He forgives iniquity, transgression, and sin, as the scripture says in Exodus 34:6-7.

When it comes to a child that dies before reaching the conscious age of accountability, we cannot really put a number on that age. We do not know when it is. The same applies to a disabled individual who does not have the conscious ability to comprehend these things. God is gracious. However, for you and me, who can see the heavens that declare the glory of God and the earth that shows forth His handiwork, we have no excuse. Beyond general revelation, we have the special revelation of the scriptures and the personal revelation of the gospel.

Think about this: we will be walking for life in just a little over a week and a half. Since 1973 and Roe v. Wade, there have been 60 million children in America who have been killed by abortion. Sixty million. I believe that because of God's mercy, those children are with God in heaven. Praise the Lord.

Now, regarding the issue of infant baptisms, there is no place in scripture that provides strong support for this practice. Many churches, including the Catholic Church, Lutheran churches, and several Presbyterian churches, practice what is called infant baptism. At Cross Connection Church, we practice believer's baptism.

There are two terms to understand: pedo-baptism, which refers to infant baptism, and credo-baptism, which refers to believer's baptism. Jesus commanded us to go into all the world and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and teaching them to observe everything He has commanded us. He promised, "Lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age."

Baptism means to submerge people underwater. We don't hold them there very long, but we do submerge them underwater. We baptize them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Some of them we do hold underwater longer, just because we like them.

So, Sam, have you been baptized? Yes? Just kidding. When we baptize, this is a person taking their first step of obedience to the command of Jesus. They are identifying themselves with Jesus because the Scriptures say that He was baptized. Just as He was baptized in Matthew's Gospel, chapter 3, we also are baptized, associating with His baptism.

Going under the water symbolizes His death and burial, while coming up out of the water represents His resurrection. Out of obedience, association, and identification with Him, we baptize believers—people who put their faith in Jesus.

Baptism does not save you; it is a sign of your faith that saves you. I've put my trust in Jesus, and I'm going to show that to people publicly through baptism. So, it doesn't save you.

Do you have a question? Yes. You're baptized when you're 8 years old, and then if you're not, you're baptized when you're dead. Let's not even get into that; that's a whole other story. Any other questions?

Yes. Back on your topic of aborted children and heaven. If you're an unborn child, then you're not alive. Well, we believe that life begins at the moment of conception. Human life is human life even at the embryo stage. There's a huge discussion about this in our nation right now, and it's really being pushed to the bounds.

It was just discovered by some researchers, I believe at one of the Ivy League schools—maybe Harvard—that they are now able to maintain an embryo, a fertilized human egg, in that embryo stage beyond 14 days. It used to be that they didn't have the ability to extend it beyond 14 days before the embryo would die. Now, they are able to extend it beyond 14 days, and they want to see how much longer they can maintain it in a laboratory setting, not in the womb of a mother.

In a laboratory setting, the development of an embryo continues. I believe that it's at day 20 that you see a heartbeat. Twenty days after conception, there's a heartbeat. I don't know for sure, because my daughter miscarried. She thought she was at eight weeks, but the baby stopped developing at five weeks. She mentioned that she didn't necessarily miscarry at that point because the heartbeat doesn't show itself until later. I want to say it's around 20 days, but I don't remember for sure.

Even still, life begins at the moment of conception. You have a human egg and a human sperm; these two things come together, and it's human life. Therefore, we believe that life begins at conception.

If you're alive and your heart is beating, would that mean that if you were a seven-week-old fetus, your heart wouldn't continue to beat? Wouldn't being alive mean that your heart would beat and your lungs would continue to take in air on your own? This is the sort of discussion that ethicists are talking about all the time.

There is a group of philosophers and ethicists who argue that the life of that child is actually not sustainable human life, even after birth. They suggest that we can practice infanticide and take the lives of infants. This is already being discussed in a significant way in the Netherlands, your lovely home country. These are big ethical discussions.

The Christian position, and our position, is that life begins at conception. We have a strong reverence for life because all life comes from God. He is the one who gives life, and He is the one who takes life away.

Not only do we have discussions about abortion and infanticide, but we also have discussions about assisted suicide. It is now legal in the state of California and has been legal in the state of Oregon for many years. Assisted suicide, which is a form of euthanasia, is legal in pretty much the entire West Coast of the United States.

We have reached a point, particularly in the Netherlands, where they are pushing this further than anyone else. If a person determines that they have lived enough of their life, they can receive assistance in dying.

They're not liable; they're not guilty for murder. This is a huge issue, the issue and question of life. When you hold a Biblical view that life begins at conception, it's given by God, and He is the one that takes it away, then we don't have to discuss the issue of whether it is okay to abort at the ninth week or the twelfth week. We don't have to answer any of those questions.

Jeremiah is told in Jeremiah chapter 1, verse 5, that God knew him before he was born. God knit us together in our mother's womb. You are a human life with dignity, value, and worth by God from inception until you depart to be with the Lord in Heaven. We don't even need to have the questions or the ethical dilemma of when life begins and when we can take life away because we believe that life is given from God.

Now, these are big, deep questions, and I recognize that they're not something we can instantly give blanket answers to as it relates to certain situations. My wife works in the intensive care unit at a hospital. She's a nurse there, and they have a patient right now that she was telling me about. She's a 30-year-old woman who had gone to get some sort of treatment at one of the Eastern Asian health centers. She ended up going into cardiac arrest, and now she's legally brain dead and on a life support system. The family is in the real throes of deciding whether to take her off life support, which would lead to her death. However, they can continue to keep her alive as long as they want to, keeping her heart beating even though there is no brain activity.

If you back up 30 years ago, we couldn't have done this sort of thing. Now, these are big ethical dilemmas that we never had to wrestle with, but now we do. If you get into this field and study bioethics, it's a really hard place to be. Every hospital has an ethics panel that has to determine some of these questions as they relate to these deep issues.

Other questions? Well, like with my mom, her body was shutting down due to poisoning, basically. It was in her will that she did not want to be sustained in that situation. So, we still had to make the final decision.

That's a hard decision to make, isn't it? I felt like we had no choice because those were her wishes, and she was on the other side. Those are tough dilemmas and tough questions.

Maybe we can move on to some lighter questions. If you have any other questions before we close the prayer, feel free to ask. I'll stick around if you want to ask anything.

Alright, let's pray. God, these are heavy, heavy things, and I pray that none of us are ever in a situation where we have to make those kinds of difficult decisions. But, Lord, ultimately, You are the one who gives and takes away as it relates to life.

I believe, according to what we read in the Scriptures, that all of our days are recorded with You in Heaven. I pray, God, that we would wisely number our days, just as Moses said that the days of our lives are seventy years, and if by reason of strength, eighty years. Teach us to number our days that we may apply our hearts to wisdom.

It is wise for us to realize the shortness of this life, but, Lord, the length of eternity is something we can't even comprehend. We want to be with You forever. I thank You for the fact that You do give forgiveness. You deal with the penalty of sin, and as we're going to see, You also have a way of dealing with sin's power. One day, You will deal with the presence of sin.

So, God, we thank You for Your grace and Your forgiveness. We pray, God, that You would help us to know it personally and to share it with others. In Jesus' name, Amen.